“Video Social Media: A Reference for Integrating and Applying Video Social Media as a Technical Communicator”

by Danielle Rose | Xchanges 8.1

Conclusion

There are many reasons that technical communicators should consider using VSM sites. VSM sites and their videos can reach a large audience and videos can be adapted to suit a variety of needs. The key to using VSM sites as a technical communicator is to harness the features that VSM sites provide and use them to enhance the work that technical communicators do currently.

As technical communicators, it is essential to stay on top of developing technologies and the roles they may play in communication in the future. VSM allows technical communicators to harness visuals that enhance communication and audience understanding. YouTube, the most popular VSM site, has a “demographic [that] ranges from 18-54” and the site “monetizes over 2 billion views per week globally” (YouTube). With that kind of global reach in an interactive and easy-to-view visual format, the potential uses for VSM sites like YouTube are limitless. Further study could be conducted on how VSM could be adapted for areas like web design, video resumes, proposal writing, or even posting clips to advertise technical communication events. Though there are many considerations that need to be made when creating videos for VSM sites, the potential benefits outweigh the drawbacks and technical communicators should expend the extra effort to work with VSM.